FACTBOX - Cricket-England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff

(Reuters) - England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, 31, is to retire from test cricket at the end of the Ashes series against Australia because of persistent injury problems, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Wednesday.

Here are some details about the life and career of Flintoff:

* LIFE DETAILS AND EARLY CAREER:

-- Flintoff was born in December 1977 in Preston, England. He made his first class English county cricket debut for Lancashire in 1995 aged 18.

-- He represented England for the first time at test level against South Africa in Nottingham, England in July 1998.

* CAREER HIGHS:

-- Following an inconsistent opening to his international career, he knocked his highest career test score of 167 against West Indies at Edgbaston in July 2004 and recorded career best bowling figures of 5-58 in subsequent tour in Antigua.

-- He scored 402 runs and took 24 wickets to inspire England as they regained the Ashes for the first time in 18 years with a 2-1 series victory over Australia in September 2005. Named man of the series, receiving the inaugural Compton-Miller Medal.

-- Flintoff won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2005 and ICC player of the year as well as being named Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in April 2006.